As students go through their junior high and high school years, it is crucial to gain a general understanding of English grammar and styles of writing. This can be taught in the classroom, however, more often than not, youth develop fluency in English and interest in creative writing by reading English literature and novels. In some cases, students may also be expected to have read specific books as a prerequisite for high school English classes. As such, we would like to provide a list of books that students should have read in junior high and likely will read in high school, as suggested by faculty members in the Western Canada High School English Department. We would recommend that students entering high school or taking high school English courses read over several of these novels and short stories, as it will allow you to get a better understanding on literary analyses and achieve better results in writing assignments.
*Note: this is not a list of what will be expected in high school, as it differs between schools and teachers. This is just a list of suggested books and stories that are commonly used and referenced in the English 10, 20 and 30 curriculum.
Books are ranked by students from 1 to 5 based on difficulty in understanding and vocabulary. Recommendations made by students are likely better for interest while recommendations made by teachers are more likely to be used in English courses and are more effective for skill development. For those who do not read very often, we highly recommended starting from your areas of interest and choosing the books that grab your attention. For those who already read a lot, this is a great chance to try some new genres and challenge yourself! You might discover a whole new world of interests you never thought you would have enjoyed. (Descriptions of books below are excerpts taken from https://www.goodreads.com/.)
